CN110462794B - Gas cluster processing apparatus and gas cluster processing method - Google Patents

Gas cluster processing apparatus and gas cluster processing method Download PDF

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Publication number
CN110462794B
CN110462794B CN201880020478.7A CN201880020478A CN110462794B CN 110462794 B CN110462794 B CN 110462794B CN 201880020478 A CN201880020478 A CN 201880020478A CN 110462794 B CN110462794 B CN 110462794B
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Prior art keywords
gas
pressure
flow rate
controller
cluster
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CN201880020478.7A
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Chinese (zh)
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CN110462794A (en
Inventor
土桥和也
折居武彦
斋藤幸正
小池国彦
妹尾武彦
泉浩一
吉野裕
荘所正
兼平圭太
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Tokyo Electron Ltd
Iwatani Corp
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Tokyo Electron Ltd
Iwatani Corp
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B08—CLEANING
    • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
    • B08B5/00—Cleaning by methods involving the use of air flow or gas flow
    • B08B5/02—Cleaning by the force of jets, e.g. blowing-out cavities
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67011—Apparatus for manufacture or treatment
    • H01L21/67017—Apparatus for fluid treatment
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67011—Apparatus for manufacture or treatment
    • H01L21/67017—Apparatus for fluid treatment
    • H01L21/67028—Apparatus for fluid treatment for cleaning followed by drying, rinsing, stripping, blasting or the like
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B08—CLEANING
    • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
    • B08B7/00—Cleaning by methods not provided for in a single other subclass or a single group in this subclass
    • B08B7/0035—Cleaning by methods not provided for in a single other subclass or a single group in this subclass by radiant energy, e.g. UV, laser, light beam or the like
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67242—Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking
    • H01L21/67276—Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02041—Cleaning
    • H01L21/02043—Cleaning before device manufacture, i.e. Begin-Of-Line process
    • H01L21/02046—Dry cleaning only
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02041—Cleaning
    • H01L21/02057—Cleaning during device manufacture

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
  • Drying Of Semiconductors (AREA)
  • Chemical Vapour Deposition (AREA)
  • Cleaning Or Drying Semiconductors (AREA)
  • Electrical Discharge Machining, Electrochemical Machining, And Combined Machining (AREA)

Abstract

A gas cluster processing apparatus (100) for irradiating a substrate (S) with gas clusters to perform a predetermined process on the substrate (S) is provided with: a treatment vessel (1); a gas supply unit (13) for supplying a gas for generating gas clusters; a mass flow controller (14) that controls the flow rate of the gas supplied from the gas supply unit (13); a cluster nozzle (11) for supplying a gas for generating gas clusters at a predetermined supply pressure, and ejecting the gas into a processing container held in vacuum to cause the gas clusters to be formed by adiabatic expansion; and a pressure control unit (15) which is provided in a pipe (12) between the mass flow controller (14) and the cluster nozzle (11) and has a back pressure controller (17) for controlling the supply pressure of the gas for generating the gas clusters.

Description

Gas cluster processing apparatus and gas cluster processing method
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a gas cluster processing apparatus and a gas cluster processing method.
Background
In the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, particles adhering to a substrate may cause defects in a product, and thus a cleaning process of removing particles adhering to a substrate is performed. As a technique for performing such a substrate cleaning process, a technique of irradiating a gas cluster to a substrate surface and removing particles on the substrate surface by physical action of the gas cluster has been attracting attention.
As a technique of irradiating a gas cluster to a substrate surface, the following technique is known: CO is processed by 2 The gas for generating clusters is injected from a nozzle into a vacuum atmosphere after being set at a high pressure, gas clusters are generated by adiabatic expansion, the generated gas clusters are ionized by an ionization section, and a gas cluster ion beam formed by accelerating the ionized gas clusters by an accelerating electrode is irradiated onto a substrate (for example, refer to patent document 1).
In addition, the following technique is also known: CO injection from a nozzle into a vacuum atmosphere 2 A plurality of gases such as a cluster generation gas, an acceleration gas such as He, and the like, and neutral gas clusters generated by adiabatic expansion are irradiated to a substrate (for example, refer to patent document 2).
Since the diameter of the gas clusters irradiated from the nozzles is determined by the gas supply pressure, it is necessary to control the gas supply pressure, and as described in patent documents 1 and 2, the gas supply pressure has been conventionally controlled mainly by the gas supply flow rate. That is, the supply pressure of the gas is proportional to the supply flow rate, and thus the supply pressure of the gas can be controlled by controlling the supply flow rate of the gas. Further, as shown in patent document 2, fine adjustment of the supply pressure is performed using a pressure adjustment valve.
Prior art literature
Patent literature
Patent document 1: japanese patent application laid-open No. 2006-500741
Patent document 2: japanese patent laid-open No. 2013-175681
Disclosure of Invention
In general, the supply flow rate of the gas is controlled by a mass flow controller (which captures a temperature change proportional to the mass flow rate of the gas in the internal flow path and converts the temperature change into an electrical signal, and controls the flow control valve to a set flow rate by operating the flow control valve based on the electrical signal corresponding to the set flow rate from the outside), but in the flow control by the mass flow controller, it takes a long time to reach the set pressure. In addition, when it is desired to shorten the time to reach the set supply pressure by increasing the supply amount of the gas as compared with the supply amount corresponding to the set supply pressure, the supply pressure is overshot with respect to the pressure set by the pressure adjusting valve, resulting in a decrease in the controllability of the pressure. If such overshoot occurs, the pressure on the downstream side of the mass flow controller increases, and the pressure difference between the front and rear of the mass flow controller cannot be obtained, so that the control of the gas supply amount itself cannot be performed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a technique of: when the substrate is processed by irradiating the gas clusters on the substrate, the gas supply pressure required for generating the gas clusters can be reached in a short time, and the controllability of the gas supply pressure is good.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gas cluster processing apparatus for irradiating a target object with gas clusters to perform a predetermined process on the target object, the gas cluster processing apparatus comprising: a processing container in which the object to be processed is disposed; a gas supply unit that supplies a gas for generating gas clusters; a flow rate controller that controls a flow rate of the gas supplied from the gas supply unit; a cluster nozzle that supplies a gas for generating the gas clusters at a predetermined supply pressure, and ejects the gas into a processing container held in vacuum to cause the gas clusters to be formed by adiabatic expansion; and a pressure control unit that is provided in a pipe between the flow controller and the cluster nozzle and that has a back pressure controller that controls a supply pressure of the gas for generating the gas clusters.
The method can be set as follows: the pressure control unit is further configured to include a branch pipe branching from the pipe, the back pressure controller is provided in the branch pipe, the gas from the pipe flows to the back pressure controller and is then exhausted, the pressure on the primary side of the back pressure controller is set to the predetermined supply pressure, and the excess gas is exhausted via the back pressure controller at a point in time when the pressure on the primary side reaches the predetermined supply pressure.
Preferably, the first back pressure controller and the second back pressure controller are provided in series in the branch pipe, the back pressure controller having a small differential pressure range and high accuracy is used as the first back pressure controller, the pressure on the primary side of the first back pressure controller is set to a set value of the supply pressure of the gas, the back pressure controller having a differential pressure range larger than the differential pressure range of the first back pressure controller is used as the second back pressure controller, and the pressure on the primary side of the second back pressure controller is set to a value lower than the set value of the supply pressure of the gas.
Can be: the control means controls the set flow rate of the flow rate controller to a first flow rate which is larger than a flow rate required to reach the predetermined supply pressure until the supply pressure of the gas supplied from the gas supply portion reaches the predetermined supply pressure, and the pressure control portion further includes a flow rate measuring device which measures the flow rate of the gas flowing through the back pressure controller, and controls the set flow rate of the flow rate controller to a second flow rate which is larger than the flow rate capable of maintaining the predetermined supply pressure and smaller than the first flow rate based on the measured value of the flow rate measuring device.
The method can be set as follows: the gas supply unit individually supplies at least two gases as the gas for generating the gas clusters, and has at least two flow controllers corresponding to the at least two gases, respectively, as the flow controllers, the at least two gases merging in the piping on a downstream side of the at least two flow controllers, and the pressure control unit is provided in a portion of the piping after all of the at least two gases merge.
The apparatus may further include a booster provided on an upstream side of a portion of the pipe where the pressure control unit is provided, the booster being configured to boost pressure of the gas for generating the gas clusters. The pressure control unit may further include a bypass passage provided so as to bypass the back pressure controller from the pipe, and an opening/closing valve for opening/closing the bypass passage, and may be configured to open the opening/closing valve after the gas cluster treatment to discharge the gas in the cluster nozzle and the pipe through the bypass passage. The gas temperature control device may further include a temperature regulator provided downstream of the branching pipe section provided with the pressure control section, and the temperature regulator may include the cluster nozzle, and may regulate the temperature of the gas upstream of the cluster nozzle. As the flow controller, a mass flow controller is preferable.
Preferably, the first flow rate is controlled to be in a range of 1.5 to 50 times the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure can be maintained, and the second flow rate is controlled to be in a range of 1.02 to 1.5 times the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure can be maintained.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gas cluster processing method in which a gas for generating a gas cluster is supplied to a cluster nozzle via a pipe, the gas is ejected into a processing container held in vacuum by the cluster nozzle to be clustered by adiabatic expansion, and a target object disposed in the processing container is irradiated with the gas cluster to perform a predetermined process on the target object, the gas cluster processing method characterized by controlling a flow rate of the gas to a predetermined flow rate, and discharging a part of the gas from the pipe, thereby controlling a supply pressure of the pipe to a predetermined supply pressure.
In the second aspect described above, the supply pressure can be controlled by a back pressure controller. In this case, it can be set as: the back pressure controller is provided in a branch pipe branching from the pipe, the gas discharged from the pipe flows to the back pressure controller after passing through the branch pipe, the pressure on the primary side of the back pressure controller is set to the predetermined supply pressure, and the excess gas is discharged through the back pressure controller at a point in time when the pressure on the primary side reaches the predetermined supply pressure. Further, the present invention may be configured such that a first back pressure controller and a second back pressure controller are provided in series in the branch pipe, the back pressure controller having a small differential pressure range and high accuracy is used as the first back pressure controller, the pressure on the primary side of the first back pressure controller is set to a set value of the supply pressure of the gas, the back pressure controller having a differential pressure range larger than that of the first back pressure controller is used as the second back pressure controller, and the pressure on the primary side of the second back pressure controller is set to a value lower than the set value of the supply pressure of the gas.
The flow rate setting means may be configured to control the flow rate setting means to a first flow rate, which is larger than a flow rate required to reach the predetermined supply pressure, until the supply pressure of the gas reaches the predetermined supply pressure, to measure the flow rate of the gas discharged from the pipe and flowing to the back pressure controller, and to control the flow rate of the gas to a second flow rate, which is larger than the flow rate capable of maintaining the predetermined supply pressure and smaller than the first flow rate, based on a measured value obtained by the measurement. In this case, it is preferable that the first flow rate is controlled to be in a range of 1.5 to 50 times the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure can be maintained, and the second flow rate is controlled to be in a range of 1.02 to 1.5 times the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure can be maintained.
According to the present invention, since the flow rate of the gas supplied from the gas supply unit is controlled by the flow rate controller and the supply pressure of the gas for generating the gas clusters in the pipe between the flow rate controller and the cluster nozzle is controlled by the pressure control unit having the back pressure controller, the gas for generating the gas clusters can be circulated at a large flow rate, and the excessive gas can be discharged at a time point at which the supply pressure becomes a predetermined supply pressure, and the supply pressure of the predetermined gas can be reached in a short time. In addition, since the excessive gas is discharged at the time point when the predetermined supply pressure is reached in this way, the supply pressure of the gas is not overshot, and the supply pressure of the gas is maintained constant by the back pressure controller during the process, the controllability of the supply pressure of the gas is good.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a gas supply pressure and a gas supply flow rate.
Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a change with time of a supply pressure in the case where a gas supply pressure is controlled by a gas supply flow rate in the related art.
Fig. 4 is a graph showing a change with time of a pressure when a supply amount of gas is increased compared to a supply amount corresponding to a set supply pressure in the case where a gas supply pressure is controlled by a gas supply flow rate in the related art.
Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a method of controlling the gas supply pressure according to the present invention.
Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 11 is a sectional view showing a conventional gas cluster processing apparatus.
Detailed Description
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
< first embodiment >
First, a first embodiment will be described.
Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
The gas cluster processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is used to perform a cleaning process of a surface of a subject by irradiating a surface of the subject with gas clusters.
The gas cluster processing apparatus 100 has a processing container 1 that partitions a processing chamber for performing a cleaning process. A substrate mounting table 2 for mounting a substrate S as an object to be processed is provided near the bottom of the processing container 1.
The substrate S is not particularly limited, and various substrates such as a semiconductor wafer and a glass substrate for a flat panel display can be cited.
A cluster nozzle 11 for irradiating a gas cluster toward the substrate S is provided at an upper portion of the processing container 1 so as to face the substrate mounting table 2. The cluster nozzle 11 has a main body 11a and a conical tip 11b. An orifice portion having a diameter of, for example, about 0.1mm is provided between the main body portion 11a and the distal end portion 11b.
The substrate stage 2 is driven by the driving unit 3, and the substrate S and the cluster nozzle 11 are relatively moved by driving the substrate stage 2 by the driving unit 3. The driving unit 3 is configured as an XY stage having an X-axis rail 3a and a Y-axis rail 3 b. The substrate stage 2 may be fixed, and the cluster nozzle 11 may be driven.
An exhaust port 4 is provided at the bottom of the processing container 1, and the exhaust port 4 is connected to an exhaust pipe 5. The evacuation pipe 5 is provided with a vacuum pump 6, and the interior of the processing container 1 is evacuated by the vacuum pump 6. The vacuum degree at this time can be controlled by the pressure control valve 7 provided in the exhaust pipe 5. The evacuation mechanism 10 is constituted by the evacuation pipe 5, the vacuum pump 6, and the pressure control valve 7, and thereby the inside of the process container 1 is maintained at a predetermined vacuum level, for example, 0.1 to 300Pa.
A carry-in/carry-out port 8 for carrying in and carrying out the substrate S is provided on a side surface of the process container 1, and the process container 1 is connected to a vacuum conveyance chamber (not shown) through the carry-in/carry-out port 8. The carry-in/carry-out port 8 is openable and closable by a gate valve 9, and carries in and carries out the substrate S with respect to the process container 1 by a substrate carrying device (not shown) in the vacuum carrying chamber.
One end of a gas supply pipe 12 for supplying a cluster generating gas, which is a gas for generating gas clusters, into the cluster nozzle 11 penetrates the ceiling of the process container 1, and is connected to the cluster nozzle 11, and the other end of the gas supply pipe 12 is connected to a gas supply source 13 for supplying such gas. The gas supply pipe 12 is provided with a mass flow controller 14, and the mass flow controller 14 is a flow controller that controls the supply flow rate of the cluster generating gas.
A pressure control unit 15 is provided between the mass flow controller 14 and the cluster nozzle 11, and the pressure control unit 15 controls the supply pressure of the gas supplied to the cluster nozzle 11.
The pressure control unit 15 includes a branch pipe 16 branched from a portion of the gas supply pipe 12 between the mass flow controller 14 and the cluster nozzle 11, a back pressure controller 17 provided in the branch pipe 16, and a flow meter 18 for measuring a flow rate of the gas flowing through the branch pipe 16. The other end of the branch pipe 16 is connected to the exhaust pipe 5. A pressure gauge 19 is provided at a position of the branch pipe 16 on the upstream side of the back pressure controller 17. The back pressure controller 17 has a function of controlling the pressure on the primary side, i.e., the upstream side of the back pressure controller 17, to a fixed value. Specifically, the back pressure controller 17 includes a relief valve, and when the pressure on the primary side reaches a set pressure, the relief valve is opened to discharge the excess gas, thereby maintaining the gas supply pressure at a constant value. As the back pressure controller 17, a back pressure controller that performs pressure difference control so that the pressure on the primary side becomes the supply pressure of the gas supplied to the cluster nozzle 11, for example, 0.9Mpa is used. The pressure gauge 19 monitors the pressure on the upstream side of the back pressure controller 17. The flow meter 18 is provided downstream of the back pressure controller 17, but the position of the flow meter 18 is not limited as long as the flow rate of the gas in the branch pipe 16 can be measured.
Further, on-off valves 21 and 22 are provided at positions of the gas supply pipe 12 on the front side and the rear side of the mass flow controller 14. An on-off valve 23 is provided at a position of the branch pipe 16 downstream of the back pressure controller 17.
The supply pressure of the cluster generating gas supplied from the gas supply source 13 to the cluster nozzle 11 is controlled to a high pressure in the range of, for example, 0.3 to 5.0MPa by the pressure control unit 15. When the cluster generating gas supplied from the gas supply source 13 is injected from the cluster nozzle 11 into the processing container 1 kept at a vacuum of, for example, 0.1 to 300Pa, the supplied gas adiabatically expands, and a part of atoms or molecules of the gas are aggregated from several to about 10 by van der waals force 7 And thus become gas clusters.
The cluster generating gas is not particularly limited, but a gas capable of generating clusters, such as CO, can be preferably used 2 Gas, ar gas, N 2 Gas, SF 6 Gas, CF 4 Gas, etc. May also beThe plurality of cluster generating gases are supplied in a mixed manner. In addition, H can be mixed 2 Gas, he gas, for cluster acceleration.
In order to eject the generated gas clusters onto the substrate S without breaking the gas clusters, the pressure in the processing container 1 is preferably low, for example, when the supply pressure of the gas supplied to the cluster nozzle 11 is 1MPa or less, the pressure in the processing container 1 is preferably 100Pa or less, and when the supply pressure is 1 to 5MPa, the pressure in the processing container 1 is preferably 1000Pa or less.
The gas cluster processing apparatus 100 includes a control unit 30. The control unit 30 controls the respective components (valves, mass flow controllers, back pressure controllers, driving units, etc.) of the gas cluster processing apparatus 100, and in particular, provides a command for setting the pressure to the back pressure controller 17, and controls the flow rate of the mass flow controller 14 based on the measured flow rate of the flowmeter 18.
Next, a processing operation of the gas cluster processing apparatus 100 configured as described above will be described.
The gate valve 9 is opened, and the substrate S is carried from the vacuum carrier chamber into the processing container 1 which is always evacuated by the vacuum pump 6 via the carry-in/out port 8, and is placed on the substrate stage 2. After the gate valve 9 is closed, the pressure in the process container 1 is controlled to a predetermined pressure by the pressure control valve 7.
Thereafter, the gas cluster generating gas is supplied to the cluster nozzle 11 at a predetermined supply pressure. Conventionally, a mass flow controller is used to control the gas supply flow rate, thereby controlling the gas supply pressure at this time. As shown in fig. 2, the relationship between the gas supply pressure and the gas supply flow rate is proportional, and depends on the orifice diameter of the cluster nozzle. Further, fine adjustment of the gas supply pressure is performed by a pressure control valve (regulator) provided on the downstream side of the mass flow controller.
However, in the case of controlling the gas supply pressure by the gas supply flow rate, even if the gas supply flow rate of the mass flow controller is set so as to be a predetermined supply pressure, the gas is performed in a state where the gas flows out from the orifice of the cluster nozzleThe pressure is increased, so that the time required for the amount of gas flowing out from the orifice and the amount of gas supplied to stabilize is long, as shown in fig. 3, until the set supply pressure is reached. For example, in the case of CO 2 When the gas is used as the cluster generating gas and the pressure is increased to 0.9MPa, it takes 15 minutes or more.
On the other hand, if the time required to reach the set supply pressure is shortened by increasing the supply amount of the gas compared to the supply amount corresponding to the set supply pressure, the arrival time is shortened compared to the conventional one, but as shown in fig. 4, the supply pressure is overshot with respect to the set desired pressure, and the pressure controllability is lowered. If such overshoot occurs, the pressure on the downstream side of the mass flow controller increases, and the pressure difference between the front and rear of the mass flow controller cannot be obtained, so that the control of the gas supply flow rate itself cannot be performed. Even if a pressure adjustment valve (regulator) for finely adjusting the gas supply pressure is provided on the downstream side of the mass flow controller, the pressure on the downstream side of the mass flow controller likewise rises, and the pressure difference between the front and rear of the mass flow controller cannot be obtained, and the control of the gas supply flow itself cannot be performed.
In order to solve such a problem, the present embodiment controls the gas supply pressure of the cluster generating gas by the pressure control unit 15 having the back pressure controller 17.
Next, an example of a method of controlling the gas supply pressure will be described with reference to the flowchart of fig. 5.
First, the cluster generation gas is supplied so that the flow rate is controlled to the first flow rate by the mass flow controller 14, so that the cluster generation gas is supplied at a flow rate exceeding the required flow rate corresponding to the set gas supply pressure (step 1).
When the set gas supply pressure is reached, the safety valve of the back pressure controller 17 is opened, and the excess gas is discharged through the branch pipe 16, so that the supply pressure of the cluster generating gas supplied to the cluster nozzle 11 through the gas supply pipe 12 is kept constant, and the cleaning process of the substrate S is started at this point (step 2).
After the cleaning process is started, the gas flow rate value of the branch pipe 16 measured by the flow meter 18 is fed back to the mass flow controller 14, and the supply flow rate of the cluster generating gas is controlled to a second flow rate which is larger than the first flow rate and smaller than the first flow rate to maintain the set gas supply pressure (step 3).
In this way, since the back pressure controller 17 is provided in the pressure control unit 15 that controls the supply pressure of the cluster generation gas to control the gas supply pressure itself, even if the cluster generation gas is supplied at a large flow rate by the setting of the mass flow controller 14, it is possible to discharge the excessive gas via the back pressure controller 17 at the point in time when the supply pressure reaches the set pressure, and thus it is possible to control the gas supply pressure to the set pressure. Therefore, a large flow rate of the cluster generation gas can be supplied, and the set gas supply pressure can be reached in a short time. For example, when the supply pressure is 0.9MPa, a time of 15 minutes or more is required from the start of the supply of the gas until the set supply pressure is reached and stabilized, but the time can be reduced to 4 minutes or less in the present embodiment.
In step 2, since the extra gas is discharged at the point in time when the supply pressure reaches the set pressure, the gas supply pressure is not overshot, and the gas supply pressure is maintained constant by the back pressure controller 17 during the cleaning process, so that the controllability of the gas supply pressure is good.
Further, after the cleaning process is started, the flow rate of the gas flowing as the excessive gas to the branch pipe 16 can be measured by the flow meter 18, and the flow rate of the cluster forming gas is controlled based on the measured value, so that the amount of the unnecessary gas which does not contribute to the formation of the gas clusters can be reduced.
< second embodiment >
Next, a second embodiment will be described.
Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
The basic structure of the gas cluster processing apparatus 101 of the present embodiment is the same as that of fig. 1 of the first embodiment, but is different from that of fig. 1 in that at least two gases are supplied as the gases for generating the gas clusters.
In the present embodiment, at least two gases including at least one cluster generating gas are separately supplied as the gas for generating the gas clusters. For example, the above-mentioned CO may be supplied separately 2 Gas, ar gas, N 2 Gas, SF 6 Gas, CF 4 Two or more kinds of cluster generating gases such as gas may be supplied with the cluster generating gas and the accelerating gas for accelerating the cluster generating gas. When a desired speed cannot be obtained by the cluster generating gas alone, an acceleration gas is used, which is difficult to generate clusters by itself, but has the effect of accelerating gas clusters generated from the cluster generating gas. As the acceleration gas, he gas, H gas, or the like can be used 2 Gas, etc. Other gases such as a reaction gas that generates a predetermined reaction on the surface of the substrate S may be used.
In the example of fig. 6, a case is shown in which two gases are supplied with a first gas supply source 13a that supplies a first gas and a second gas supply source 13b that supplies a second gas. Specifically, as the first gas supplied from the first gas supply source 13a, CO as a cluster generating gas is exemplified 2 As the second gas supplied from the second gas supply source 13b, H as an acceleration gas is exemplified 2 A gas or He gas. The first gas or the second gas may be a mixture of a plurality of gases.
The first gas supply source 13a is connected to the first pipe 12a, and the second gas supply source 13b is connected to the second pipe 12 b. The first pipe 12a and the second pipe 12b are connected to the gas supply pipe 12 extending from the cluster nozzle 11, and the first gas and the second gas are supplied from the first gas supply source 13a and the second gas supply source 13b, respectively, through the first pipe 12a and the second pipe 12b, and then join together in the gas supply pipe 12, and are further supplied to the cluster nozzle 11. The first pipe 12a is provided with a first mass flow controller (MFC 1) 14a as a flow controller for controlling the supply flow rate of the first gas. The second pipe 12b is provided with a second mass flow controller (MFC 2) 14b as a flow controller for controlling the flow rate of the second gas.
In the case of supplying three or more gases, a gas supply source, piping, and a mass flow controller may be additionally provided in accordance with the number.
The gas cluster processing apparatus 101 of the present embodiment also includes a pressure control section 15, similar to the gas cluster processing apparatus 100 of the first embodiment shown in fig. 1. The pressure control unit 15 is provided between the first mass flow controller 14a and the second mass flow controller 14b and the cluster nozzle 11, and the pressure control unit 15 includes a branch pipe 16 branched from the gas supply pipe 12, a back pressure controller 17 provided in the branch pipe 16, and a flow meter 18 for measuring the flow rate of the gas flowing through the branch pipe 16. As in the first embodiment, an on-off valve 23 is provided at a position of the branch pipe 16 downstream of the back pressure controller 17.
The first pipe 12a is provided with on-off valves 21a and 22b at positions on the front side and the rear side of the first mass flow controller 14a, and the second pipe 12b is provided with on-off valves 21b and 22b at positions on the front side and the rear side of the second mass flow controller 14 b.
In addition, the gas cluster processing apparatus 101 of the present embodiment also includes a control unit 30 that controls each component (a valve, a mass flow controller, a back pressure controller, a driving unit, etc.) in the same manner as the gas cluster processing apparatus 100 of the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, the control unit 30 provides the back pressure controller 17 with a command for setting the pressure, and controls the flow rates of the first mass flow controller 14a and the second mass flow controller 14b based on the measured flow rate of the flowmeter 18.
Other structures are the same as those of the gas cluster processing apparatus 100 of the first embodiment, and therefore, description thereof is omitted.
Next, a processing operation of the gas cluster processing apparatus 101 configured as described above will be described.
As in the first embodiment, the gate valve 9 is opened, and the substrate S is carried from the vacuum transfer chamber into the processing container 1, which is always evacuated by the vacuum pump 6, through the carry-in/out port 8, and is placed on the substrate stage 2. After the gate valve 9 is closed, the pressure in the process container 1 is controlled to a predetermined pressure by the pressure control valve 7.
Thereafter, at least two gases including at least one cluster generating gas are supplied to the cluster nozzle 11 as the gas for generating the gas clusters. In the example of fig. 6, the first gas and the second gas are supplied from the first gas supply source 13a and the second gas supply source 13 b.
In the case of supplying a plurality of gases as described above, in the conventional method of controlling the gas supply pressure by controlling the gas supply flow rate using the mass flow controller, there are problems that the time required to reach the set supply pressure is long and the controllability of the supply pressure is poor, and there are also problems that the gas ratio is unstable.
That is, as shown in fig. 4, when the supply pressure is overshot and the pressure on the downstream side of the mass flow controller is increased and the differential pressure between the front and rear of the mass flow controller is not obtained, the gas supply flow rate cannot be controlled and the ratio of the plurality of gases cannot be maintained at the set ratio.
For example, in the case of CO 2 The gas being used as a cluster generating gas, he gas or H gas being used 2 In the case where the gas is used as the accelerating gas, when the ratio of these gases deviates from the set value, CO 2 When the ratio becomes very high, CO is sometimes present at the cluster nozzle 11 portion 2 The partial pressure rises to liquefy. When CO 2 When liquefaction occurs, huge clusters are generated, and there is a risk that the pattern on the substrate S is damaged.
In contrast, in the present embodiment, the first gas from the first gas supply source 13a is controlled by the first mass flow controller 14a, the second gas from the second gas supply source 13b is controlled by the second mass flow controller 14b, the first gas and the second gas are supplied at a predetermined ratio, the first gas and the second gas are supplied at a flow rate exceeding the required flow rate corresponding to the set gas supply pressure, and the first gas and the second gas are supplied to the cluster nozzle 11 at the set supply pressure by the back pressure controller 1 7. Therefore, in addition to the effect that the set gas supply pressure can be achieved in a short time and good controllability of the gas supply pressure can be obtained so that overshoot of the gas supply pressure does not occur, the following effect can be obtained as in the first embodiment: the ratio of the first gas to the second gas can be maintained at the set ratio without making flow control by the mass flow controller impossible due to overshoot of the gas supply pressure. The same applies to the case where three or more gases are used.
After the cleaning process is started, the flow rate of the gas flowing as the surplus gas to the branch pipe 16 is measured by the flow meter 18, and the measured value is fed back to the mass flow controllers 14a and 14b, as in the first embodiment. This can reduce the amount of unnecessary gas that does not contribute to the generation of gas clusters while maintaining the gas ratio.
Further, the first flow rate, which is the set flow rate of the flow rate controller, can be set in a range of 1.5 to 50 times the flow rate at which the set supply pressure can be maintained. If the flow rate is within 50 times, the same flow rate controller can be used to control the flow rate with high accuracy. Further, if the flow rate is in the range of 1.5 to 5.0 times, the ratio of the first gas to the second gas can be maintained with higher accuracy without causing an extreme change in flow rate, and if the flow rate is in the range of 1.5 to 2.0 times, the ratio is more preferable. As the second flow rate, the flow rate that can maintain the predetermined supply pressure can be controlled within a range of 1.02 to 1.5 times.
< third embodiment >
Next, a third embodiment will be described.
Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
The basic configuration of the gas cluster processing apparatus 102 of the present embodiment is the same as that of fig. 6 of the second embodiment, but the pressure control section is different from that of fig. 6 in that it has two back pressure controllers arranged in series.
As shown in fig. 7, in the gas cluster processing apparatus 102 of the present embodiment, the pressure control section 15' includes a branch pipe 16 branched from the gas supply pipe 12 between the mass flow controllers 14a and 14b and the cluster nozzle 11, a first back pressure controller 17a provided in the branch pipe 16, a second back pressure controller 17b provided in the branch pipe 16 at a position downstream of the first back pressure controller 17a, and a flow meter 18 for measuring the flow rate of the gas flowing through the branch pipe 16. The other end of the branch pipe 16 is connected to the exhaust pipe 5. The position of the flowmeter 18 is not limited as long as it can measure the gas flow rate of the branch pipe 16. A first pressure gauge 19a is provided at a position on the upstream side of the first back pressure controller 17a in the branch pipe 16, and a second pressure gauge 19b is provided at a position on the upstream side of the second back pressure controller 17b to monitor the pressures at these positions in the branch pipe 16. The branching pipe 16 is provided with opening and closing valves 23a and 23b at a position downstream of the first back pressure controller 17a and a position downstream of the second back pressure controller 17b, respectively.
If the primary side of the downstream side second back pressure controller 17b is set to a predetermined pressure by arranging the two back pressure controllers in series in this manner, and the gas supply pressure in the gas supply pipe 12 is controlled by the upstream side first back pressure controller 17a, the time from the start of gas supply to the setting of the supply pressure and stabilization can be shortened. That is, by using a back pressure controller having a small differential pressure range and high accuracy as the first back pressure controller 17a and using a back pressure controller having a large differential pressure range as the second back pressure controller 17b, it is possible to perform large pressure control by the second back pressure controller 17b, and to perform pressure control having a small differential pressure range by the first back pressure controller 17a, it is possible to perform control in a short time from the start of gas supply to the set supply pressure and to make the time stable at 1 minute or less.
For example, as the first back pressure controller 17a, a Δ0.3MPa differential pressure (micro differential pressure) control type of electronic control is used, as the second back pressure controller 17b, a Δ1MPa differential pressure control type of mechanical control is used, the primary side pressure (gas supply pressure) of the first back pressure controller 17a is set to 0.9MPa, and the primary side pressure of the second back pressure controller 17b is set to 0.75MPa, whereby the time from the start of gas supply to the time when the set supply pressure is reached and stability is achieved can be shortened from about 4 minutes to about 15 to 20sec when one back pressure controller is used. In addition, in the electronically controlled micro-differential pressure type back pressure controller, the differential pressure range is small but the error is high as ±0.01MPa, so the gas supply pressure can be controlled with high accuracy.
In fig. 7, a case where a plurality of gases are supplied as in the second embodiment is shown, but a case where one gas is supplied as in the first embodiment may be also shown. In addition, three or more back pressure controllers may be provided in series.
< fourth embodiment >
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described.
Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
The basic configuration of the gas cluster processing apparatus 103 of the present embodiment is similar to that of fig. 7 of the third embodiment, but the pressure control section is different from that of fig. 7 in that it further includes a bypass pipe bypassing the back pressure controller and an on-off valve opening and closing the bypass pipe.
As shown in fig. 8, in the gas cluster processing apparatus 103 of the present embodiment, the pressure control unit 15″ includes, in addition to all the components of the pressure control unit 15' of the third embodiment shown in fig. 7, a bypass pipe 41 that bypasses the first back pressure controller 17a and the second back pressure controller 17b so that one end is connected to a portion of the branch pipe 16 located on the upstream side of the first back pressure controller 17a and the other end is connected to a portion located on the downstream side of the second back pressure controller 17b, and an opening/closing valve 42 provided in the bypass pipe 41.
When the bypass pipe 41 and the on-off valve 42 are not provided, the cluster nozzle 11 continues to discharge the gas remaining in the cluster nozzle 11 and the pipe by the pressure difference even when the supply of the gas is stopped after the substrate processing is completed. Generally, since the vacuum transfer chamber adjacent to the process container 1 is kept at a lower pressure than the process container 1, the pressure in the process container 1 needs to be further reduced to further increase the pressure difference when the substrate S is carried out, and the time from stopping the supply of the gas to actually stopping the ejection of the gas is long.
After such a stop of the gas supply, it is necessary to carry out the substrate S after stopping the gas discharge from the cluster nozzle 11, and the gas discharge time increases the time for substrate replacement after the completion of the process, which adversely affects the throughput of the process.
In contrast, in the present embodiment, the bypass pipe 41 and the on-off valve 42 are provided, and therefore, the on-off valve 42 is closed during the process, and the on-off valve 42 is opened after the process is completed, whereby the gas in the cluster nozzle 11 and in the pipe is rapidly sucked by the exhaust mechanism 10 through the bypass pipe 41. Therefore, the time from the stop of the supply of the gas to the stop of the discharge of the gas from the cluster nozzle can be shortened, and the time for the replacement of the substrate can be shortened.
In practice, when the gas supply pressure was set to 0.9MPa and the bypass pipe and the on-off valve were not used, the time from the stop of gas supply to the stop of gas discharge from the cluster nozzle was 12 seconds. In contrast, by using the bypass pipe and the on-off valve, the on-off valve is opened to suck the gas through the bypass pipe after stopping the supply of the gas, thereby shortening the time to 1/6, that is, 2 seconds.
The gas cluster processing apparatus 103 in fig. 8 shows a case where the bypass pipe and the on-off valve are applied to the pressure control section of the gas cluster processing apparatus 102 in fig. 7, but the bypass pipe and the on-off valve may be applied to the gas cluster processing apparatus 100 in fig. 1 and the gas cluster processing apparatus 101 in fig. 6.
< fifth embodiment >
Next, a fifth embodiment will be described.
Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.
The basic configuration of the gas cluster processing apparatus 104 of the present embodiment is the same as that of fig. 7 of the third embodiment, but differs from that of fig. 7 in that a booster is provided upstream of the connection position of the gas supply pipe to the connection pressure control section.
As shown in fig. 9, in the gas cluster processing apparatus 104 of the present embodiment, a booster 45 is provided upstream of a connection portion of the gas supply pipe 12 to which the pressure control portion 15' is connected, that is, a connection portion of the branch pipe 16.
The booster 45 is constituted by, for example, a gas booster, and is used to raise the pressure of the gas supplied to the gas supply pipe 12. The booster 45 is effective for increasing the supply pressure of the gas supplied to the cluster nozzle 11.
However, in the case where the control of the gas supply pressure is performed by controlling the gas supply flow rate by the mass flow controller as in the conventional art, by using the booster, there is a time until the pressure of the booster 45 stabilizes in addition to the time until the amount of gas flowing out from the orifice of the cluster nozzle 11 and the amount of gas supplied stabilize, and therefore the arrival time until the set supply pressure is reached becomes longer.
In contrast, in the present embodiment, the back pressure controller is used to control the gas supply pressure itself, and thus the gas supply pressure can be controlled to the set supply pressure in a short time, and therefore the time required until the pressure of the booster 45 stabilizes can be shortened. Therefore, in the case where the booster 45 is provided as in the present embodiment, the effect of shortening the time from the start of the supply of the gas to the time when the set supply pressure is reached and stabilized can be further improved.
The gas cluster processing apparatus 104 in fig. 9 shows a case where a booster is applied to the gas cluster processing apparatus 102 in fig. 7, but a booster may be applied to the gas cluster processing apparatus 100 in fig. 1, the gas cluster processing apparatus 101 in fig. 6, and the gas cluster processing apparatus 103 in fig. 8.
< sixth embodiment >
Next, a sixth embodiment will be described.
Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a gas cluster processing apparatus according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.
The basic configuration of the gas cluster processing apparatus 105 of the present embodiment is the same as that of fig. 7 of the third embodiment, but is different from that of fig. 7 in that it has a temperature adjusting mechanism for adjusting the temperature of the cluster nozzle.
As shown in fig. 10, in the gas cluster processing apparatus 105 of the present embodiment, a temperature adjustment mechanism 50 is provided around the cluster nozzle 11. The temperature adjustment mechanism 50 adjusts the temperature of the gas supplied to the cluster nozzle 11, and the size of the gas clusters can be adjusted by heating or cooling the cluster generating gas by the temperature adjustment mechanism 50. This enables efficient cleaning treatment with the gas clusters.
When the temperature of the gas is adjusted by the temperature adjustment mechanism 50, a difference is generated between the gas temperature at the gas supply portion side and the gas temperature in the vicinity of the temperature adjustment mechanism 50 near the cluster nozzle 11. For example, when the cooling of the gas is performed by the temperature adjustment mechanism 50, the flow rate of the gas passing through the orifice portion of the cluster nozzle 11 increases. Therefore, in this case, the cluster nozzle 11 may not reach the desired gas supply pressure at the gas flow rate required to maintain the set gas supply pressure at the normal temperature (at the time of non-temperature adjustment). Therefore, in the case of controlling the gas supply pressure by controlling the gas supply flow rate by the mass flow controller as in the conventional art, when the temperature of the cluster nozzle 11 is changed, it is necessary to set the gas flow rate corresponding to the temperature every time, which causes the gas supply pressure to be unstable.
In contrast, in the present embodiment, the gas supply pressure to the cluster nozzle 11 is always controlled to be constant by the back pressure controller, so that stable gas supply is possible even when the temperature of the temperature adjustment mechanism 50 fluctuates. In addition, even if the supply gas flow rate is insufficient or excessive, the measurement value of the flow meter 18 is fed back to the mass flow controllers 14a and 14b, so that stable gas supply can be maintained.
The gas cluster processing apparatus 105 in fig. 10 shows a case where the temperature adjusting mechanism is applied to the gas cluster processing apparatus 102 in fig. 7, but the temperature adjusting mechanism may be applied to the gas cluster processing apparatus 100 in fig. 1, the gas cluster processing apparatus 101 in fig. 6, the gas cluster processing apparatus 103 in fig. 8, and the gas cluster processing apparatus 104 in fig. 9.
< Experimental example >
Next, an experimental example of the present invention will be described.
Here, CO 2 The gas is used as cluster generating gas to generate H 2 The gas or He gas is used as an acceleration gas, and the gas cluster processing apparatus 101 of fig. 6 is used to process a substrate by using a gas cluster.
The substrate S was carried into the processing container 1 which was always evacuated by the vacuum pump 6, and the pressure on the primary side of the back pressure controller 17, i.e., the gas supply pressure was set to 0.9MPa. In this example, the total flow rate required to reach 0.9MPa was 1000sccm calculated for CO 2 Gas and H 2 The flow ratio of the gas or He gas is set to 1:1, CO 2 Gas and H 2 The gas or He gas was 500sccm.
As step 1, to make CO 2 Flow rate of gas and H 2 The gas or He gas was supplied at a flow rate exceeding 1000sccm corresponding to 0.9 MPa. As step 2, the cleaning process is started at a point in time when the back pressure controller 17 operates and the pressure is stable. After the cleaning process is started, the flow rate value measured by the flowmeter 18 is fed back to the mass flow controllers 14a and 14b as step 3, and the CO is fed back to the flow rate controller 2 Flow rate of gas and H 2 The flow rate of the gas or He gas is controlled to a flow rate sufficient to enable the gas supply pressure to be maintained at 0.9MPa, exceeding 500sccm and less than 1000 sccm.
By controlling as described above, the time from the start of gas supply to the time when the set supply pressure is reached and the gas supply pressure is stabilized can be set to 4 minutes or less, and the gas supply pressure to the cluster nozzle 11 can be maintained constant, thereby performing the stabilization process.
For comparison, a substrate processing using gas clusters was performed using a gas cluster processing apparatus that controlled the gas supply pressure by the flow rate of a mass flow controller. As shown in fig. 11, the apparatus in this case has two gas supply sources and two mass flow controllers as in fig. 6, and a structure in which a pressure control valve 60 is provided in the gas supply pipe 12 is used instead of the pressure control section 15. Reference numeral 61 denotes a pressure gauge. In fig. 11, the same components as those in fig. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals. CO is processed by 2 The gas is used as cluster generating gas to generate H 2 A gas or He gas is used as the acceleration gas.
The substrate S was carried into the processing container 1 which was always evacuated by the vacuum pump 6, and the gas supply pressure was set to 0.9MPa. In this example, the total flow rate required to reach 0.9MPa was calculated to be 1000sccm, thus CO 2 Gas and H 2 The flow ratio of the gas or He gas is set to 1:1 CO 2 Gas and H 2 The gas or He gas was set to 500sccm. The gas is supplied at this flow rate, and the supply pressure is controlled, and the treatment is performed after the supply pressure stabilizes. In this case, 15 minutes or more are required from the time of supplying the gas to the time of stabilizing the supply pressure.
In order to shorten the time for stabilizing the supply pressure, the flow rate at the start of supply is set to CO by a mass flow controller 2 Gas and H 2 The gas or He gas was 1000sccm. The time until the set pressure is reached is thereby shortened, but the supply pressure is overshot. Further, at the time point when the overshoot occurs, the pressure on the downstream side of the mass flow controller rises, and therefore, the differential pressure before and after the mass flow controller is not obtained, the control fluctuates, and the flow control is not performed, and the gas ratio deviates from the predetermined range.
From the above results, the effects of the present invention were confirmed.
< other applications >
The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.
For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the substrate processing by the gas cluster is applied to the substrate cleaning processing has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to processing such as etching. In addition, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in any combination.
Description of the reference numerals
1: a processing container; 2: a substrate mounting table; 3: a driving section; 10: an exhaust mechanism; 11: a cluster nozzle; 12: a gas supply pipe; 13. 13a, 13b: a gas supply source; 14. 14a, 14b: a mass flow controller; 15. 15', 15': a pressure control unit; 16: a branch pipe; 17. 17a, 17b: a backpressure controller; 18: a flow meter; 19. 19a, 19b: a pressure gauge; 21. 22, 23a, 23b, 42: an opening/closing valve; 30: a control unit; 41: a bypass pipe; 45: a booster; 50: a temperature adjusting mechanism; 100. 101, 102, 103, 104, 105: a gas cluster processing device; s: a substrate (object to be processed).

Claims (12)

1. A gas cluster processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on an object to be processed by irradiating the object to be processed with gas clusters, the apparatus comprising:
a processing container in which the object to be processed is disposed;
a gas supply unit that supplies a gas for generating gas clusters;
a flow rate controller that controls a flow rate of the gas supplied from the gas supply unit;
a cluster nozzle that supplies a gas for generating the gas clusters at a predetermined supply pressure, and ejects the gas into a processing container held in vacuum to cause the gas clusters to be formed by adiabatic expansion;
a pressure control unit which is provided in a pipe between the flow controller and the cluster nozzle and has a back pressure controller for controlling a supply pressure of a gas for generating the gas cluster; and
a control unit that controls a set flow rate of the flow rate controller,
wherein the control means controls the set flow rate of the flow rate controller to a first flow rate which is larger than a flow rate required to reach the predetermined supply pressure until the supply pressure of the gas supplied from the gas supply portion reaches the predetermined supply pressure,
The pressure control unit further includes a flow rate measuring device that measures a flow rate of the gas flowing through the back pressure controller, and the control unit controls a set flow rate of the flow rate controller to a second flow rate that is larger than a flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure is maintained and smaller than the first flow rate, based on a measurement value of the flow rate measuring device.
2. The gas cluster processing device of claim 1, wherein,
the pressure control unit further includes a branch pipe branching from the pipe, and includes a first back pressure controller and a second back pressure controller provided in series to the branch pipe, wherein the first back pressure controller is a high-precision back pressure controller having a small differential pressure range, the pressure on the primary side of the first back pressure controller is set to a set value of the supply pressure of the gas, the second back pressure controller is a back pressure controller having a differential pressure range larger than that of the first back pressure controller, and the pressure on the primary side of the second back pressure controller is set to a value lower than the set value of the supply pressure of the gas.
3. A gas cluster processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein,
the gas supply unit individually supplies at least two gases as the gas for generating the gas clusters, and has at least two flow controllers corresponding to the at least two gases, respectively, as the flow controllers, the at least two gases merging in the piping on a downstream side of the at least two flow controllers, and the pressure control unit is provided in a portion of the piping after all of the at least two gases merge.
4. A gas cluster processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein,
the pressure booster is provided upstream of the portion of the pipe where the pressure control unit is provided, and boosts the pressure of the gas for generating the gas clusters.
5. A gas cluster processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein,
the pressure control unit further includes a bypass passage provided so as to bypass the back pressure controller from the pipe, and an on-off valve for opening and closing the bypass passage, and after the gas cluster processing, the on-off valve is opened to discharge the residual gas in the cluster nozzle and the pipe through the bypass passage.
6. The gas cluster processing device of claim 1, wherein,
the first flow rate is controlled to be in a range of 1.5 to 50 times the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure can be maintained, and the second flow rate is controlled to be in a range of 1.02 to 1.5 times the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure can be maintained.
7. In a gas cluster processing method in which a gas for generating a gas cluster is supplied to a cluster nozzle via a pipe, the gas is ejected from the cluster nozzle into a processing container held in vacuum, the gas is clustered by adiabatic expansion, a predetermined process is performed on a subject disposed in the processing container by irradiating the subject with the gas cluster, the gas cluster processing method is characterized in that,
controlling the flow rate of the gas to a predetermined flow rate, discharging a part of the gas from the pipe, thereby controlling the supply pressure of the pipe to a predetermined supply pressure,
the supply pressure is controlled with a backpressure controller,
the flow rate of the gas is controlled to a first flow rate, which is larger than a flow rate required to reach the predetermined supply pressure until the supply pressure of the gas reaches the predetermined supply pressure, the flow rate of the gas discharged from the piping and flowing to the back pressure controller is measured, and the flow rate of the gas is controlled to a second flow rate, which is larger than the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure is maintained and smaller than the first flow rate, based on a measured value obtained by performing the measurement.
8. The method for treating a gas cluster according to claim 7, wherein,
the back pressure controller is provided in a branch pipe branching from the pipe, the gas discharged from the pipe flows to the back pressure controller after passing through the branch pipe, the pressure on the primary side of the back pressure controller is set to the predetermined supply pressure, and the excess gas is discharged through the back pressure controller at a point in time when the pressure on the primary side reaches the predetermined supply pressure.
9. The method for treating a gas cluster according to claim 8, wherein,
the control device includes a first back pressure controller and a second back pressure controller, which are provided in series in the branch pipe, as the back pressure controller, a high-precision back pressure controller having a small differential pressure range is used as the first back pressure controller, the pressure on the primary side of the first back pressure controller is set to a set value of the supply pressure of the gas, a back pressure controller having a differential pressure range larger than that of the first back pressure controller is used as the second back pressure controller, and the pressure on the primary side of the second back pressure controller is set to a value lower than the set value of the supply pressure of the gas.
10. A gas cluster processing method according to any one of claim 7 to 9, wherein,
at least two gases are supplied separately as gases for generating the gas clusters, the at least two gases are respectively flow-controlled, the at least two gases are joined in the piping after the flow is controlled, and a part of the gases are discharged after all the at least two gases are joined.
11. A gas cluster processing method according to any one of claim 7 to 9, wherein,
the gas for generating the gas clusters is pressurized by a booster at a position upstream of a position at which a part of the gas is discharged.
12. The method for treating a gas cluster according to claim 7, wherein,
the first flow rate is controlled to be in a range of 1.5 to 50 times the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure can be maintained, and the second flow rate is controlled to be in a range of 1.02 to 1.5 times the flow rate at which the predetermined supply pressure can be maintained.
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